The peace and quiet of the Nigeria national team camp was shattered on Tuesday evening when coach Sunday Oliseh kicked the country’s most-capped player, goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama , out of camp.
While the federation waded in and ordered the player to remain, it has emerged that tussle over captaincy of the Super Eagles led to the altercation between both men, a situation that has overshadowed the team’s preparation for the friendly matches against Congo and Cameroon this week.
Depending on the version of events that you have read, the common thread is that Enyeama arrived in camp on Tuesday, a day later than all players were required to turn up.
It is stated that the goalkeeper was allowed to arrive late in camp due to the funeral rites of his mother in Akwa Ibom on Saturday. It was an event which had in attendance key figures in Nigerian football, led by the Nigeria Football Federation president Amaju Pinnick.
Was there a breakdown in communication between the coach and the player? Most likely, because by the time Enyeama arrived in Verviers, the coach had already announced forward Ahmed Musa as his substantive captain.
This was a carry-over from September’s gathering in Abuja, when the captain asked to be withdrawn late without as much as telling the coach about his family situation, only for a heartrending post to emerge on Instagram later that night about his mother’s death.
Yet, the situation between both men seemed to be cordial until recently.
While he has been a bulwark for the national team for more than 13 years, since making his debut at the 2002 World Cup, the last four months have been testing for Enyeama.
In June he got into hot soup with the NFF after publicly criticizing the choice of Kaduna for the team’s 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying game against Chad.
One of the people who stood up for him in the face of that inquisition by the NFF was Oliseh, weeks before he would be named coach of the Super Eagles.
Oliseh wrote in a blog post that the captain deserved better than to be harangued, referring to how he too was kicked out of the national side just before the 2002 World Cup in similar situations.
“So why this clamour for sanctions on Nigeria’s most capped international, best goalkeeper (one of the world’s best) and above all, captain of the Super Eagles of Nigeria?” Oliseh asked.
“This particular situation is irritating because once again some might be blinded by the little picture of trying to hide behind discipline, etc and forget the big picture that we need desperately to qualify and not seek polemics!”
It seems ages ago that the current coach of the Super Eagles wrote those words in support of the man that he is now seeking to send into early retirement.
Both men have granted interviews stating their sides of the story.
Enyeama said he was surprised at his being stripped of the captaincy: "I insisted on speaking because I felt that with the years of dedicated service I have given to the country I deserve at least the respect of giving my own side. But he told me that either the whole team would leave the room for me, or I would have to leave the room for the whole team," Enyeama told ESPN FC. He is now considering ending an international career which saw him win an Afcon title with the Eagles and also reach the Round of 16 at the World Cup in 2014.
For his part, Oliseh justified the move of installing a new captain as an opportunity to get a younger, focused player without the baggage of the older man.
“I think we need a captain that will be with us for longer, who plays regularly in the front and Ahmed did a great job for us in Tanzania; under very difficult circumstances, he’s a very responsible player and will be the captain of the team, there’s no question,” Oliseh told FootbalLive .
Personally, it is strange how Enyeama has gone from World Cup hero a year ago, and someone Oliseh stuck his neck out for just four months ago, to a national team pariah.
Could both men have handled issues differently?
There has definitely been a breakdown in communication between them, and this was apparent in the way Enyeama handled the death of his mother without personally informing the coach.
For Oliseh, there could have been a better way to strip the goalkpeer of the captaincy without making him look stupid in front of the other lads when he turned up in camp on Tuesday.
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We have seen how Dunga handed Neymar Brazil’s captaincy without creating rancour in the Selecao ranks, while Thiago Silva continues to play his leadership role on and off the pitch.
This forceful stripping of the captaincy from the goalkeeper seems contrived to punish him for his recent erratic behaviour, but it could have been better approached.
What this means is that Musa is left with a title, but has been left to oversee a potentially divided house, considering that there are older players like John Obi Mikel in the squad. Personally, Musa is not the most charismatic leader in the squad, despite his humility and unalloyed dedication. It may be hard for the young forward to have authority over the squad when there are elder statesmen sat alongside him in the dressing room.
How Oliseh handles the situation at hand will determine his managerial future. Fail to perform convincingly against Congo and Cameroon, and the fans will begin to grumble.
This is a needless fight which both men could have better dealt with in the quiet of the coach’s corner office or via a phone call before arrival in camp.
Right now, it has blown wide open exposing the messy underbelly of the national team while overshadowing the preparations for the coming matches.
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